Woman Faked Marriage To Gain Spy Clearance

WASHINGTON — A former agent for the FBI and CIA pleaded guilty yesterday to faking a marriage to win American citizenship, clearing the way to being hired and given security clearances by the two intelligence agencies.

Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, emigrated to America from Lebanon in 1989. She was given American citizenship five years later and began working as a special agent at the FBI's field office in Washington in 1999, according to a criminal information sheet filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

While working as a special agent, Prouty improperly searched an FBI computer database for information about her relatives and links they might have to Hezbollah, the criminal sheet showed. She joined the CIA in 2003 and resigned as part of her guilty plea yesterday, officials said.

There's no evidence that Prouty was working as a spy on Hezbollah's behalf, two government officials said.